Category: Semafor

The Scoop Saudi Arabia’s leading AI firm HUMAIN will launch a large venture capital fund — potentially even bigger than a planned $10 billion vehicle — this year, the company’s chief executive told Semafor, as it looks to position the kingdom at the forefront of the technology. Buoyed by its ...

US President Donald Trump imposed up to 100% tariffs on drones, targeting Chinese-made models in particular over national security concerns. China’s DJI alone accounts for more than 70% of the global market, and US law enforcement uses its devices to track wildfires and find missing persons. But drones are also ...

Ukraine’s former defense minister is launching a military tech company backed by Palantir CEO Alex Karp, a decision that risks alienating Kyiv’s European backers. Since US President Donald Trump scuttled aid to Ukraine, European countries have emerged as the country’s main supporters, including with a €90 billion ($104 billion) package ...

Uber announced Wednesday that it will axe 10% of its global corporate workforce in its biggest cuts since the pandemic, as the ride-sharing firm contends with the threat from robotaxis. The bid to become “simpler and faster” will generate more savings to plough into Uber’s autonomous driving push, CEO Dara ...

Asia’s rapid data center buildout is sparking local pushback, as governments’ urge to capture value in the AI investment boom runs into constituents’ environmental and health concerns. Backlash is growing from India to Australia, Nikkei reported, leading not to less demand overall but redirected investments, as companies shift to areas ...

The US-hosted G20 meeting, beset by trade and diplomatic squabbles, wrapped Tuesday after failing to ease investors’ concerns over a global bond market sell-off. As global bond yields hit multi-decade highs, the gathering of finance ministers ended without a consensus after China objected to language used in the communiqué about ...

China has approved a slew of brain-computer interface devices this year, showering domestic startups with state subsidies in a bid to compete with Elon Musk’s Neuralink. China has identified BCIs, which promise to restore motor functions and cognitive capacity in patients, as one of six “industries of the future” for ...

Textual sleuths are waging a crusade against the AI-generated writing proliferating in publications and on the web with their favorite detection tool. Pangram has recently been credited with helping implode a lucrative book deal and unmasking AI use at The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. After interviewing ...

The scrapping of Nigeria’s fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu’s administration has emerged as a key battleground ahead of the country’s elections. The opposition African Democratic Congress said it will anchor its campaign on a promise to reinstate the multibillion-dollar program, whose removal three years ago drove up food and ...

The IMF and Senegal agreed on a $2.2 billion loan package, with the West African country announcing a plan to restore “debt sustainability.” The developments mark key steps in tackling an economic crisis sparked by the discovery of previously unreported debt. The IMF suspended an earlier program after the government ...